Another ingenious appliance invention has yet again made life easier for both homeowners AND kitchen designers! The microwave drawer is the perfect solution for open concept kitchens.

Some of us have a gift for visualizing what's not there. Most of us don't. Many people need some sort of aid to help them see "what could be." Here at Platinum Kitchens, we love our design software.

Who hasn't heard of the legendary work triangle? It's an important concept in kitchen design. After all,it's been around since the 1940's! But do you think your kitchen is the same as it would be in the 40's? Probably not.

You've probably heard that refacing or refinishing your old cabinets will save you tons of money. You've noticed that your old cabinets are all wood and you think they have "good bones". Maybe you've heard that "they don't build 'em like this anymore". They might have had good bones once and no, they don't build them like that anymore - They're much better now but we'll come back to that later.

Does the bad lighting in your kitchen drive you crazy? Does the lighting always seem to come from behind you and you create an inescapable shadow over whatever you're trying to prepare?

Do you have a home built in the 60's, 70's or 80's? Chances are you have an 8′ tall ceiling in your kitchen AND often a bulky overhead soffit or bulkhead located directly above your upper cabinets?

How do you want to see pricing? Would you prefer to have pages and pages of detail with one number presented at the end or would you like to see that number explained and broken down?

What's the difference in these two methods of cabinet construction? Most people aren't aware that different types exist. I bet if they were made aware they would be more careful before remodeling their kitchen.

We've all seen works of art and illusions that use negative space. Negative space is defined as "the space that surrounds an object or an image" and can be as important as the subject of a composition itself.

See what happened up there in the title? Get it?… Fall became fallacy… It's a play on words because they share a few letters. Clever, huh? …OK, I'm done.

So someone thought it was a good idea to give me a blog. I know it's not the most popular blog on the web but from time to time people tell me that they read something that helped them in their kitchen education. Well this entry is a big one for me.

Ceilings need love too. We spend all our time and energy on the elements that are in our sight line. We may even spend hours stressing over the difference between Provincial and Special Walnut stain colors for our hardwood floors. But enhancing the lighting is about the farthest people go to dress up the ceiling.

How many times have you heard someone say, "Think outside the box"? Whether as a motivational tool used in business or someone using it as a clear cliché, we've all heard it more times than we can remember.

This is not a technical term. In fact, I've never heard anyone else say the phrase in regards to kitchen design. It's something I found myself saying over and over again when I saw a wall that I wanted to take for a specific purpose.

Look above your cabinets… Do you have any roosters, baskets or fake plants? Is there a blank space up there collecting dust? Maybe you're ignoring it or planning to get up there with a vacuum in the next few years. It's going to be gross!

There's a fine line between lack of intelligence and blatant honesty. I prefer to think that I'm blatantly honest but you can decide which you think of me after you've read this blog. …How could you not keep reading after a set up like that?

Captain Obvious, I know. It's kind of a ridiculous statement but there's a little more to it…

Oh, how things have changed… As the world changes around us we can not help but let it seep into our home lives. Technology changes rapidly but there's a larger change that happens with much less fanfare.

By no means am I implying that you are throwing your money down the toilet when you renovate an older home. It can be extremely rewarding and help you capture more of the charm you love about the house.

The use of the "Vs." above is quite intentional. Many of our clients ask how we intend to run the new cabinet crown in to the existing house crown molding as if they are going to fight.